Got Your Channel Set Up? Now What?

So you’ve got your YouTube channel set up. You’ve even picked out your topic and figured out how to stand out from the crowd. You’re ready to roll.

Now what?

Here are a few items to check off the list to keep the momentum going.

Make a commitment. Don’t keep your viewers waiting. With today’s short attention spans, you want new content there rapidly. Upload at a minimum once per week. If your subscribers know you’re going to post every Sunday, they will wait and check in every Sunday. If there’s nothing new there, they’ll forget about your channel. Post multiple times per week if you can but create a schedule and stick to it.

Get a video flow you can live with. You’re not producing a mega‐blockbuster‐epic movie. On the other hand, you’re not going to create a jerky, cheesy hand‐held nightmare either. You know your budget; you know how much time you can put into this.

Create a workflow that falls somewhere between cheap and pompous.

Give ‘em the hook. For example, if you’re going to show someone how to create an ice sculpture with a chainsaw, start by showing them the end result. Let’s see the angel first, then bring out the block of ice and the chainsaw.

If that’s not appropriate, start with a story. People will sit and wait for a good story, and if there’s a story behind the video, it’ll enhance the viewing.

Pay attention to the credits. You’ve seen the credits and opening music. It’s the part that people try to fast forward through. Everyone on the team deserved recognition for their hard work but keep the credits as short and sweet as you can.

And about those end credits, use them to point your viewers to your website, to your product, or to your playlist with other videos in your channel. Use that end time to further your goal.

Ahhhh is distracting. So is “uhmm….” Edit them out. Especially long pauses and forgotten lines. Stay focused, showing your subscribers how to bake a pie doesn’t include a ten‐minute session remembering how your mother organized her kitchen. Get the tangents out too.

Get good thumbnails. It increases your rating on YouTube if your thumbnails get chosen a lot. Make them compelling and easy to see.

And always, remember to have fun with what you’re doing. If you have fun, your viewers will have fun with you. Keep the effort in it and enjoy what you do.